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BAMBOO & BONE
presents
MONA LISA, BUDDHA AND ME
FUSING THEATRE, POETRY AND SHAKUHACHI
A Solo Show for Two
Created and Performed by
Performance Poet, Mallie Boman
Shakuhachi Master, Allen Nyoshin Steir
Directed By Sue Lawless
Original Music By Allen Steir and Joel Goodman
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Mona
Lisa, Buddha and Me is a unique and provocative fusion of
dramatized mono-poems and music of the Shakuhachi,
a Japanese bamboo flute. An entertaining and enlightening theatre
experience, Mona Lisa, Buddha and Me incorporates original,
modern and traditional Zen meditation music, venturing into mythic
and real landscapes.
Mona
Lisa, Buddha and Me was written and is performed by theatre
artist/poet, Mallie Boman and shakuhachi master, Allen Nyoshin
Steir. These two distinguished artists have joined forces to engage
their audience in a truly mesmerizing and mystical journey.
Premiering
at the First NY International Fringe Festival in 1997,
Bamboo & Bone's Mona Lisa, Buddha and Me has since been
featured in NYC at La Mama Galleria, Knitting Factory,
Centerfold Theater, and The Vault. Across the country,
it has been performed at the World Shakuhachi Festival in
Boulder, Colorado and Albany
Center Galleries in New York; in Canada at Christ
Church Cathedral in Vancouver and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre
Festival. More recently, Bamboo & Bone was
in-residence in Wisconsin, performing for the Frank Lloyd Wright
Fellowship at Taliesin and at The Chapel in Spring
Green.
In
1999, Bamboo & Bone won The Vault's "Fear No
Art Award" for Best Original Self-Produced Show. (Information
on other awards). Mona Lisa, Buddha and Me is currently
being translated into Japanese by actress Kana Kubota for an Asian
tour next summer.
Ms. Boman and Mr. Steir began working together in 1993 on the
touring companies of The Crane Wife, and The People
Could Fly, adapted and directed by Ms. Boman.
A renaissance theatre artist and poet, Mallie
Boman, has created her distinctive work in the US, Canada
and Japan. She has performed and directed classical, modern
and musical theatre, films, television, radio and tape.
Ms. Boman founded the Firehall Theatre and
Actors' Workshop in Vancouver, Canada. In New
York City, where she now lives, Ms. Boman created InCollaboration,
Inc., Readers Theatre Workshop, the
critically acclaimed multicultural touring story theatre company,
which encourages young people to read. In Japan, she directed
A National Treasure, a documentary on director, Tadashi
Suzuki.
Allen Nyoshin Steir is one of only
six ShiHan Masters in North America. He was given the performing
name Nyoshin which means, "The essence of heart
and soul." Grandmaster and teacher, Yoshio Kurahashi
from Kyoto, Japan, called Mr. Steir "the most impressive
shakuhachi player in New York."
Mr. Steir has performed as a soloist and a member of Japanese
classical trio ensembles. He is a founding member of the
NY Ongaku Shudan. He has performed as
a guest artist with the NY Gaga-ku Imperial
Orchestra, and the Inoue Ensemble. Mr.
Steir has composed and played original scores for several theatre
productions. His first album, Castles in the Sky, is
entirely Honkyoku (traditional Zen meditation music)
and was released in 1996.
Mona Lisa, Buddha and Me is directed by Broadway veteran
Sue Lawless, who has directed over 400 plays and musicals
in a career which spans 40 years. Additional music is composed
by Cine Golden Eagle Award winner, Joel
Goodman. Mr. Goodman has composed for movie scores and many
recording artists.
Read excerpts from reviews of Mona
Lisa, Buddha and Me.
A look at the show.
Book the show
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